Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor has said that any future introduction of Indian workers into the Taiwanese economy will depend on employer demand and whether India’s proposed implementation plan meets Taiwan’s regulatory requirements.

“If these two principles cannot be achieved, then there will be no issue of introduction, and there will be no timetable,” the ministry said in a press release on Monday.

The labor ministry said Taiwan has a responsibility to maintain diversified sources of foreign labor as workforce demand increases, noting that a Taiwan-India memorandum of understanding on facilitating the employment of Indian workers was signed in February 2024 and reviewed by lawmakers with cross-party support.

The ministry said it has continued consultations with Indian counterparts since the agreement was approved. Talks between Taiwan and India have discussed an initial pilot program involving about 1,000 Indian workers.

Despite worker shortages in Taiwan, many Taiwanese oppose laborers coming from countries such as India. In 2023, street protests took place in opposition to the labor ministry’s proposal.

Taiwan already hosts around 6,000 Indian nationals, many of them professionals and students, alongside more than 800,000 foreign workers mostly from Southeast Asia, according to data from the National Immigration Agency and Ministry of Labor.